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Training Camp

The Jittery Joe's Pro Cycling Team had our training camp in Georgia March 10th - 20th. All 11 team riders were present, the six returning riders and five new guys. This will be the first time this season that the entire team has been together. Although, it seems like we've had a mini training camp in San Diego since Cody is living by me now and Matt and Ben Kneller were in town for the month of February.

Day 1- Travel day from San Diego to Athens GA. Cody and I got in a 1 hour spin before having to head to the airport. We had direct flights to Atlanta and then a 1.5 hour drive to Athens. It was a pretty uneventful day.

Day 2- Today is like Christmas minus having to do all the family stuff. We received our new kits, casual clothes, training and race bikes and everything else you can think of. After that we had bike fits with our team doctor Michael Ross and custom insoles done by Pete Iverson of Conformables. I have to say that a custom insole is worth it's weight in gold and Conformables makes an amazing product.

Finally we got on the new bikes for an evening ride with some local fans leaving from our bike shop sponsor The Hub Bikes. It was a 2 hour leisurely jaunt to get the new rigs dialed in. I want to say a special thanks for our awesome team mechanic Jon Erwin who has gone way out of his way to make sure that I was 100% dialed in on the bike. After the ride we all headed over to the Dowd's for dinner with team and a tech talk from Zero Gravity. For all that don't know who Barbara Dowd is she's a co-owner of the team, team host house, and the backbone of the entire program.

Day 3- We had a really mellow morning that included a stop at Jittery Joe's coffee shop and then a 2.5 hour ride with some of the employees from our sunglass sponsor Tifosi. It was another easy ride but that would be changing soon! In the afternoon we made the 45 minute drive to Madison where we would be based the next few days.

We arrived in Madison to the largest house I have ever been in. It must have had 12 bedroooms! The owner of the home is a team supporter and gave us full run of the estate while he stayed in one of his other homes in the area.

Day 4- Today is the first "real" day of training. The terrain in the area is rolling, no long climbs but no flat roads either. Everyone was motivated today to show how good of a winter they've had. We rolled a hard tempo the whole day until the last 45 minutes when Jesse (team director) radioed up from the follow vehicle to tell us to do a rotating paceline the rest of the ride. Ouch! 5 hours, 115 miles. It was quickly apparent how much depth the team has this season. Everyone is so strong already, even big Ben Kneller who is back from a broken collar bone only a month ago. We fired up a pasta dinner at the house that evening, played some pool and then hit the sack.

Day 5- Very much like yesterday's ride. Some of the same roads but slightly slower due to a stiff wind. It's weird doing a 100+ mile ride without stopping at all. In CA that just doesn't happen. It definitely feels more like a race with the nonstop riding and a solid tempo the whole time. Jesse had us doing a paceline at the end again like yesterday. 5 hours, 100 miles. Team sponsor Tom Palmer took us all out for a nice Italian dinner in historic Madison. We had a good time hanging out and enjoyed not having to cook.

Day 6- We had a really bad storm roll through last night. Atlanta had a tornado touch down that caused a lot of damage. Luckily we were watching the radar and snuck out between storms. We rolled out to wet roads, keeping motivation a little low for the first hour but as the roads dried the pace went up. It ended up being the hardest of the three days in Madison. Jesse had us do two 30 minute paceline efforts towards the end of the day. We did 98 miles in 4 hours 15 minutes. Just as we finished up the next storm came in and started dumping. We had our Team Launch in Athens that evening. On the way to Athens we encountered golf ball sized hail. We even had to pull under an overpass as a hurricane came through up the highway and ripped out a row of trees and placed them right in the in the road. That was a lot of excitement for a Cali boy! We made it to the Team Launch finally and had a great time. The Launch was held at team sponsor Terrapin Brewery. It was fun hanging out with sponsors and team fans. Thanks to all the sponsors and team supporters that made it a great launch party. After signing a few autographs we headed to a Mexican restaurant for a good feed.

Day 7- Easy day! We had a very light 1.5 hour spin today. We are definitely feeling the last few days so it felt great to drop the pace down and the duration. We even had the pleasure of having Jim Beherens a Patron sponsor along for the ride. We finished the ride at the local café for coffee. After packing up we left Madison and headed up to the north Georgia mountains. We are staying in Tom Palmer's mountain vacation home which sleeps all 11 riders no problem. The views from the deck are amazing! You really need to plan things out being this secluded. Our grocery store, dinner run was a 3 hour affair. I guess it's just extra bonding time right?

Day 8- We started out driving to Blairsville this morning. We had to do a press conference with the Tour De Georgia organizers and the local community. Blairsville is where the Brasstown Bald stage starts during the Tour. We headed out after the press conference to ride the stage. With 10,000' of climbing in only 90 miles it was a tough day. Young neo-pro Jared Barilleaux ripped us all a new one on the climbs, very impressive! I felt OK but it's hard to tell when your in the hurt locker from a 22 year old rookie. Matt was impressive in the hills as was a slimmed down Cody and Evan. We rolled out a few extra miles to get an even 100 in for the day averaging almost 20 mph which isn't bad considering the terrain. The massage was amazing tonight, thanks Craig and Jenny! Everyone lent a hand with making pasta, sauce, garlic bread, salad, and Trent's famous grilled chicken.

Day 9- Everyone is getting tired, myself included. After yesterday's 5 hour throw down I was feeling it this morning! I wasn't overly motivated to get on the bike and the weather didn't help either. It was windy and quite chilly out. As soon as we rolled out though I realized that my legs were getting better with each day. We kept it mainly at tempo on the climbs except for the last one, Wolf Pen. Jared and I had a bit of a pissing match and I was able to finally make the kid suffer a bit. The ride ended up being another solid 5 hour day. We went to the happening town of Ellijay for dinner. After 9oz. of red meat and a potato I was feeling good again.

Day 10- We packed up and headed out from the mountain cabin this morning to Road Atlanta race track. Road Atlanta is where the Team Time Trial for Tour De Georgia will take place. We were lucky enough to secure 2 hours of track time to do some course reconnaissance. We just beat the weather and got in 1.5 hours before the deluge of rain hit. I think the TTT will be an exciting day. The course is tough and technical. They decided not to allow time trial bikes for the race due to how technical the track is. I think they made a wise decision. There are one or two downhill corners that will hit at 45-50 mph! After riding the course we were supposed to make the 2 hour ride back to Athens but Jesse let us cut it short and jump in the van due to the downpour. We stopped on the way back to Athens to enjoy a Jittery Joe's coffee together as a team for the last time until Tour De Georgia.

Day 11- Cody and I had a late flight back to San Diego so we were able to get in an early morning 2 hour spin and a coffee stop. Now that I'm sitting on the plane heading back home I've had some time to reflect back on the last 10 days. I couldn't be leaving camp any happier with things. We have a great group of talented guys this year that are going to represent well on and off the bike. I can guarantee that it will be an exciting year for The Bean Team

Neil
neilshirley.com

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